LOCATIVE SUBJECT IN MANDARIN CHINESE
T.-H. Jonah Lin
National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Abstract
This paper examines the various kinds of locative subject in Mandarin Chinese (MC). It
is shown that the locative subjects in MC do not arise from locative inversion like the case ofEnglish, but are introduced by light verbs directly in the subject position. To account for the“locative prominancy” of MC, it is suggested that a functional head Locus, dominated by TP,
checks the status of the subject argument on the way of movement from vP Spec to TP Spec,
which makes sure that the subject argument is locative in nature.
1. Introduction
Mandarin Chinese (MC), like other East Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean,
is a topic prominent language (Li and Thompson 1981). But a less known fact about MC isthat it is also a “locative prominent” language, in the sense that it frequently employs locative
subject in its sentence structure. Locative subject is, in a general sense, a “marked” subject inlanguages like English, as it is derived through locative inversion. On the other hand, thelocative subject in MC is special not only in its frequent use in the sentence structure, but also
in its generation – it doesn’t need to arise from an internal locative expression throughinversion. It can be the subject of an MC sentence just like an agent or a theme expression.
In this work we will present an introduction to the various kinds of locative subject in
MC. Following Mei (2002a, b), we propose that a functional head, Locus, is responsible forthe locative prominancy of MC subject.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews locative subject in English andmakes a comparison with MC. Section 3-4 examine two kinds of locative subject, those
introduced by the light verb EXIST and OCCUR. Section 5 examines a new kind of locative
subject in MC, which we call the “agentive locative subject.” Section 6 introduces Mei’s(2002a, b) theory on the functional head Locus and proposes an analysis for the locative
prominancy of MC based on the function of Locus. Section 7 is the conclusion.
2. Locative Subjects
Before moving on to the locative subjects in MC, it may be beneficial to look at the

Nanzan Linguistics 4, 69-88©2008 T.-H. Jonah Lin

Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

locative subjects in English first. With an understanding in the locative subjects in English, itwill be easier to grasp the peculiarity of the locative subjects in MC. Locative subjects in
English typically arise from an internal locative expression (argument or adjunct), which
undergoes inversion to the subject position of the sentence. (See Coopmans 1989, Bresnan
and Kanerva 1989, Bresnan 1994, Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995, among many others.)1
One usually observes it with verbs of appearance and existence, though other kinds of verbs
may permit it as well (Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995). See the following examples:(1)

On the street stood a policeman.

(2)

Down the hill rolled John. ((25a), Collins 1997: 27)(3)

In the distance appeared the towers and spires of a town which greatly resembled
Oxford. ((1), Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995: 218)

(4)

On the third floor worked two young women called Maryanne Thomson and Ava Brent,
who ran the audio library and print room. ((19b), Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995:
224)

Note that the locative subject in all these examples can be “restored” back to the predicateinternal position:(5)

A policeman stood on the street.

(6)

John rolled down the hill. ((25b), Collins 1997: 27)(7)

The towers and spires of a town which greatly resembled Oxford appeared in the
distance. ((2), Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995: 218)

(8)

Two young women called Maryanne Thomson and Ava Brent worked on the third
floor…

Transitive verbs in English do not permit locative inversion ((16a-c), Levin and Rappaport
Hovav 1995: 223):(9)

Archeologists recovered sacrificial burials from this trench.

(10) *

From this trench recovered archeologists sacrificial burials.

(11) *

From this trench recovered sacrificial burials archeologists.

Locative subjects in MC sentences, on the other hand, are more varied and diversified.
1

Coopmans (1989) proposes that the so-called locative subject in English actually is not the subjectof the sentence, but a topic in Comp. We will not go into the syntax of the locative subject in English,
and therefore will not compare the different analyses.

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Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)

There are several kinds, which we call the “canonical” locative subject, the existential
locative subject, the occurrence locative subject, and the agentive locative subject. Below are
examples.
(12) The “canonical” locative subject
Jie-shang zhan-zhe
yi-ge
jingcha.
street-on stand-DUR one-CL policeman‘On the street stood a policeman.’(13) Existential locative subject
Zhe-zuohu-li
zhaodao-guo
yi-ge
da baozang.
this-CL lake-in find-EXP
one-CL big treasure‘A big treasure has been found in this lake.’(14) “Occurrence” locative subject
Womenchunzi-li
chen-leourvillage-in
sink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats from our village sank.’(15) “Agentive” locative subject
Zhangsan-deshou-li wo-zhe
yi-ba
shouqiang.
Zhangsan’s hand-in hold-DUR
one-CL pistol‘Zhangsan holds a pistol in his hand.’
These locative subjects are very different from those in English. First, many of the locative
subjects in MC cannot be “restored” to a predicate-internal position; in fact, among the fourkinds of locative subject above, only the “canonical” locative subject can be “restored” into
the predicate.
(16) Yi-ge jingcha
one-CL policeman

zhan
stand

zai jie-shang.
at street-on‘A policeman stood on the street.’(17) *
Yi-ge da baozang zhaodao zai zhe-zuo hu-li.
one-CL
big treasure findat this-CL lake-in(18) *
Liang-sao chuan
two-CL boat
sink

chen
zai women chunzi-li.
at ourvillage-in(19) *
Wo-zhe yi-ba
shouqiang
hold-DUR one-CL pistol
at

zai Zhangsan-deshou-li.
Zhangsan’s
hand-inThis indicates that the locative subjects in MC may not arise from inversion of an internal- 71 -

Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

locative argument or adjunct. Second, as shown by the example (13) and (15), transitive verbs
in MC can take a locative subject; this is not possible for English.
Thus, the locatives subjects in MC have their own peculiar properties that need special
analyses. The questions that we will be asking are: What accounts for these locative subjects?
And what makes MC such a language that permits so many different kinds of locative subject– in other words, what makes MC such a “locative prominent” language?
3. Locative Subjects in MC
There have been researchers who propose that MC exhibits locative inversion of the
English kind, namely an internal locative argument raising to the subject position. For
example, Li and Thompson (1981) note that there is a specific group of verbs in MC which
can take locative subject. Li and Thompson (1981) call them “verbs of placement.” See thefollowing examples.
(20) Zhangsan
Zhangsanfang
putyi-ben shu
one-CL bookzai zhuo-shang.
at table-on‘Zhangsan put a book on the table.’(21) Zhuo-shang
table-onfang-zhe
put-DUR

yi-ben shu.
one-CL book

‘A book was on the table.’(22) Zhangsan
Zhangsanxie-lewrite-PERF

jige
da zi
several big characterzai qiang-shang.
at wall-on‘Zhangsan wrote several characters on the wall.’(23) Qiang-shangwall-onxie-zhewrite-DURjige
da zi.
several big character‘Several big characters are on the wall.’According to Li and Thompson, verbs like fang ‘put’, xie ‘write’, and many more, such as
shui ‘sleep’, zhong ‘plant’ and others, have an internal locative argument. These verbs cantake a locative subject, as in (21) and (23), and this locative subject arises from the inversionof the internal locative argument. Another example is S. Huang (1982), who investigatescompound verbs like fei-man ‘fly-full’ and suggests that they have an internal locativeargument which may raise to subject position. The following two sentences show that either
the theme mifeng ‘honeybee’ or the locative huayuan ‘garden’ can be the subject of thesentence. S. Huang (1982) proposes that such verbs have two internal arguments but noexternal argument, and either one of the two internal arguments can raise to subject position,
resulting in sentences like (24) and (25).

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Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)(24) Mifeng
honeybeefei-man-le huayuan.
fly-full-PERF garden‘Honeybees fill the garden flying.’(25) Huayuan fei-man-le mifeng.
garden fly-full-PERF honeybee‘The garden is full of honeybees flying.’
But such locative-inversion analysis cannot be the basis for a general treatment of the locative
prominancy of MC. They are problematic in one way or another. The verb xie ‘write’ isconsidered a verb of placement taking an internal locative argument by Li and Thompson(1981) because it can take a locative subject, as in (23). However, it is conceptually difficult
to accept that such verbs as xie ‘write’ (and many others) have an internal locative argument.
Why does writing have anything to do with a location, other than it must happen somewhere?
As to S. Huang’s (1982) analysis, it is sufficient to point out that many compound verbs inMC can take a locative subject, without its sub-component having anything to do with spaceor location. The following is an example with the compound verb zhuang-si ‘hit and cause todie’.
(26) Lu-bianroad-sidezhuang-si-le
hit-dead-PERF

san-zhi gou.
three-CL dog‘Three dogs were dead at the roadside being hit [by cars].’
Once again, there is no reason to assume that the compound verb zhuang-si ‘hit and cause todie’ has an internal locative argument. Any approach, therefore, that crucially relies on
locative inversion for MC locative subjects cannot be successful.2
Lin (2001) proposes to account for the locative subjects in MC by the function of lightverbs. He postulates two light verbs that license locative subject in MC: EXIST and OCCUR.
Lin (2001) suggests that verbs in MC don’t have argument of their own, much less locativeargument. What appears to be locative inversion is in fact a base-generated locative
expression in the Spec position of the vP projected by the light verb EXIST or OCCUR,
which then raises to the subject position of the sentence. See the following examples forillustration.

2

One question needs to be clarified. It is indeed true that the locative expressions ‘on the wall’ and‘garden’ in (22) and (24) are complements to the verbs ‘write’ and ‘fly-full’. In MC a post-verbal
locative expression must be a complement; it cannot be an adjunct. However, being a complement isdifferent from being an internal locative argument. These two locative expressions are complements,
but they are not the internal locative arguments of the verbs ‘write’ and ‘fly-full’. Lin (2007) argues
that syntactic merger in MC is not dictated by the selection of the verb, because, according to Lin(2001), verbs in MC do not have arguments of their own. See Lin (2001, 2007) for more details.
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Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008(27) Zhe-zuo
This-CLhu-lizhaodao-guo
lake-in find-EXP

yi-ge
da baozang.
one-CL big treasure‘A big treasure has been found in this lake.’(28) [IP in this lakei [vP ti EXIST [VP found a big treasure ]]](29) Women
ourchunzi-li
village-in

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats from our village sank.’(30) [IP in our villagei [vP ti OCCUR [VP sank two boats ]]]If Lin’s (2001) theory is correct, there is no locative inversion in MC. The locative subject isintroduced by the light verb and has no association with any predicate-internal position. Thisappears to be a desirable move, since it accounts for those locative subjects in MC whichcannot be “restored” back to a predicate-internal position.
4. EXIST and OCCUR
Here we will take a closer look at the light verbs EXIST and OCCUR. These two lightverbs and the locative subjects they license have very different properties. The locative
subject that EXIST introduces denotes the location where an entity exist in a particular mode;
it is an existential construction. See the following sentences.
(31) Qiang-shangwall-ongua-zhehang-DUR

yi-fu
one

hua.
painting‘A painting is hung on the wall.’ =‘There is a painting on the wall hanging.’(32) Shan-shang gai-le
yi-pai xiaomuwu.
mountainbuild-PERF one-row small.cabin‘A row of cabins were built on the top of mountain.’ =‘There are a row of cabins built on the top of the mountain.’
As the glosses indicate, these two sentences can be understood as asserting the existence of
certain thing (a painting and cabins respectively), and the “main verbs” of the sentences (gua‘hang’ and gai ‘build’) are more or less like an adverbial element that denotes the manner ormode in which the thing exists. The locative subject, of course, denotes the location in which
the thing exists or comes into existence.
On the other hand, the locative subject that OCCUR introduces typically denotes thelocation where an event happens. This construction highlights the happening of certain event,- 74 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)rather than the existence of certain thing.3 See the following example:(33) Women
ourchunzi-li
village-in

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats from our village sank.’
This sentence asserts the happening of an event, the event of two boats sinking. The locative
subject denotes the location that the event happens. Notice that this doesn’t mean that theboats sink in the village; boats don’t sink in land. ‘Our village’ stands for the location towhich the event has a direct impact, or the place the event happens to.
EXIST and OCCUR differ in a number of respects. First, OCCUR may take a time
subject instead of a locative subject, whereas EXIST cannot. See (34) and (35). Second, thesubject that OCCUR introduces can be phonetically empty, but this is impossible for EXIST.
See (36) and (37).
(34) Zuotian
yesterday

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats sank yesterday.’(35) *
Zuotian gai-leyesterday build-PERF

yi-pai xiaomuwu.
one-row small.cabin(36) Chen-lesink-PERF

chuan
boat

liang-sao
two-CL(le).
PF‘Two boats sank.’(37) *
Gai-leyi-pai xiaomuwu.
build-PERF one-row small.cabin

3

The following two sentences can be regarded as the “prototypical form” of the EXIST- andOCCUR-sentences, with the verbs you ‘have, exist’ and fasheng ‘happen’:(i)

Qiang-shang
Wall-onyou yi-fu
have one-CLhua.
painting‘A painting exists on the wall.’(ii)

Zhangsan-jia
fasheng-leyi-jianZhangsan-home happen-PERF one-CL

mousha-an.
murder‘A murder happened at Zhangsan’s house.’
The sentence (i) asserts the existence of a certain thing, namely a painting, on the wall, and thesentence (ii) asserts the happening of an event, namely a murder. In (i) no happening is asserted, andin (ii), no existence of something is asserted.
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Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

Once more difference between OCCUR and EXIST is that, as we have shown above, thelocative subject that the former introduces can denote the source of the event that happens; itdoesn’t have to be the precise location where the event happens. Compare the following two
examples.
(38) Women
ourchunzi-li
village-in

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats from our village sank.’(39) Hai-di
chen-lesea-bottom sink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan.
boat‘Two boats were at the bottom of the sea sinking.’(38) is an OCCUR sentence, the locative subject of which denotes the source of the event that
happens, or the place which the event happens to. (39), on the other hand, is an EXIST
sentence; its locative subject denotes the precise location where the two boats end up in. Of
course, sometimes ambiguity arises, such as the following sentence:(40) Shan-shang gai-le yi-dong fangzi.
mountain-on
build
one-CL house‘There is a house built in the mountain.’ or‘An event of house-building has happened in the mountain.’
To disambiguate the sentence, the participants of the conversation must know which elementof the sentence is being asserted, the existence or coming into existence of an entity, or thehappening of a particular event. But for sentences like (38), there is no ambiguity, since boats
don’t sink in land, and as a result only the OCCUR reading is acceptable.
This use of OCCUR may account for a well-known, yet hotly debated construction in
MC, as follows (see Shen 2006 among others):(41) Wang Mien qi
Wang Miensuishang si-lefuqin.
seven year.old on
die-PERF father‘Wang Mien had his father died when he was about seven years old.’This sentence is adopted from a famous Chinese novel, Ru-lin Wai-shi (‘The Scholars’),
written in the first half of the 18th century. The intriguing point about this sentence is that the
intransitive verb si ‘die’ is used as a transitive verb, and the subject argument assumes a senseof experiencer or sufferer. There have been different proposals on how this construction isderived in MC syntax; we will not go into detailed discussion. Our proposal is this. If we takethe subject Wang Mien in (41) as a locative rather than an ordinary kind of subject(experiencer, for instance), the sentence can be well accounted for. The support for thisanalysis comes from the following fact: the verb si ‘die’ can also take a locative subject, a- 76 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)

time subject, or a phonetically empty subject, exactly the same as what we’ve seen with the
OCCUR sentences:(42) Chunzi-li
village-in

si-lesan-ge ren.
die-PERF three-CL person(Locative subject)‘Three persons died in the village.’(43) Zuotian
yesterdaysi-lesan-ge ren.
die-PERF three-CL person(Time subject)‘Three persons died yesterday.’(44) Si-le san-ge ren(le)die-PERF
three-CL person PF(Phonetically empty subject)‘Three persons have died.’
Based on such patterning, it is very likely that the sentence (41) is an OCCUR sentence, andits subject Wang Mien a locative subject.
Now we have a preliminary answer for the questions posed at the end of section 2 –namely, what accounts for the locative subjects in MC, and what makes MC such a “locative
prominent” language. Our answer is: light verbs such as EXIST and OCCUR account for thelocative subjects in MC, and, MC is “locative prominent” because of the functions of theselight verbs.
5. The Agentive Locative Subject
There is evidence that indicates that locative subjects are more prevalent in MC thanthose introduced by EXIST and OCCUR. In fact, many sentences with agentive subjects canbe converted into ones with locative sentences. We call them the agentive locative subject.
Look at the following examples.4

4The locatives in (46), (48), (50) and the like may occur in the form of an adverbial, as in thefollowing example:(i)

ZhangsanZhangsan(zai) shou-li wo-zhe yi-ba
at hand-in hold-DUR one-CLshouqiang.
pistol‘Zhangsan holds a pistol in his hand.’We will not discuss this construction, as it is irrelevant to the point we are making.
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Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008(45) Zhangsan
Zhangsanwo-zhehold-DUR

yi-bashouqiang.
one-CL pistol‘Zhangsan holds a pistol.’(46) Zhangsan-deshou-li wo-zhe
yi-ba
shouqiang.
Zhangsan’s hand-in hold-DUR
one-CL pistol‘Zhangsan holds a pistol in his hand.’(47) Zhangsan
Zhangsanqi-zhe yi-pi ma.
ride-DUR one-CL horse‘Zhangsan is riding a horse.’(48) Zhangsan-depigu-xia
qi-zheZhangsan’s hip-underride-DUR

yi-pima.
one-CL horse‘Zhangsan is riding a horse under his hip.’(49) Zhangsan
Zhangsanma-zhecurse-DURzang-hua.
dirty-word‘Zhangsan is cursing with dirty words.’(50) Zhangsan-dezui-li
Zhangsan’s mouth-in

ma-zhezang-hua.
curse-DUR dirty-word‘Zhangsan is cursing with dirty words in his mouth.’
The verbs wo ‘hold’, qi ‘ride’, and ma ‘curse’ in (45), (47) and (49) are agentive verbs, andtheir subject arguments are agents. However, we find that the subject arguments in thesesentences can be transformed into locatives, as in (46), (48), and (50). This kind of locative
subject is not limited to agentive verbs; stative verbs can take locative subjects as well.
(51) Zhangsan
Zhangsanxihuan Ahua.
like
Ahua

‘Zhangsan likes Ahua.’(52) Zhangsan-de
xin-li xihuan Ahua.
Zhangsan’s heart-in like
Ahua
‘Zhangsan likes Ahua in his heart.’(53) Zhnagsan
Zhangsan

hen
very

e.
hungry‘Zhangsan is very hungry.’- 78 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)(54) Zhnagsan-de
duzi
hen
e.
Zhangsan’s stomach very
hungry‘Zhangsan is very hungry in his stomach.’
Such locative subjects are not unrestricted, though. For the agentive locative subject to occur,the verb must be in the durative or progressive aspect. Compare the following examples. In(56) and (59), the verbs is suffixed with the perfective aspectual marker -le and hence
assumes the perfective aspect. We find that the agentive locative subject is not acceptablewith such verbs. On the other hand, in (57) and (60) the verbs take the durative aspectual
marker -zhe (along with the progressive aspectual adverb zheng ‘right now’), and the agentive
locative subject is acceptable in these two sentences.5(55) Zhangsan
Zhangsanchi-le liang-ge hanbao.
eat-PERF two-CL burger‘Zhangsan ate two burgers.’(56) *
Zhangsan-de zui-li
chi-le liang-ge hanbao.
Zhangsan’s mouth-in
eat-PERF two-CL burger(57) Zhangsan-dezui-li
Zhangsan’s mouth-inzheng
right.now

chi-zhe yi-ge
hanbao.
eat-DUR one-CL burger‘Zhangsan is eating a burger right now in his mouth.’(58) Zhangsan xie-leyi-feng xin.
Zhangsan write-PERF one-CL letter‘Zhangsan wrote a letter.’(59) *
Zhangsan-de shou-dixia xie-leyi-feng xin.
Zhangsan’s hand-under write-PERF one-CL letter(60) Zhangsan-deshou-dixia zheng
Zhangsan’s hand-under right.now

xie-zheyi-feng xin.
write-DUR one-CL letter‘Zhangsan is writing a letter under his hand.’
Here we need to ask a question: Is the agentive locative subject an instance of the EXISTor OCCUR locative subjects, or is it an independent kind? There is evidence pointing to thelatter. Crucially, sentences with EXIST or OCCUR locative subjects can take nondurative/progressive aspect. See the following examples for illustration, in which the verbs
take the perfective aspectual marker -le.
5This applies to the stative verbs in (52) and (54) as well. Though the verbs ‘like’ and ‘hungry’ donot take any aspect marker, the semantics of the two sentences (52) and (54) are such that the states
are continually true. This makes them fairly like in the durative/progressive aspect.
- 79 -

Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008(61) Shan-shang gai-le
yi-pai xiaomuwu.
mountainbuild-PERF one-row small.cabin‘A row of cabins were built on the top of mountain.’(62) Women
ourchunzi-li
village-in

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-saotwochuan.
boat‘Two boats from our village sank.’
The “durative/progressive aspect requirement” of the agentive locative subject, therefore,
indicates that the agentive locative subject is an independent kind, different from the locative
subjects introduced by the light verbs EXIST and OCCUR.
There is yet a different type of locative subject in MC that also requires
durative/progressive aspect. In this construction the locative subject denotes the location
where an event is in progress. Look at the following examples:(63) Litang-li
auditorium-in

zheng
right.nowchang-zhesing-DUR

xiaoge.
alma.mater‘The alma mater is being sung in the auditorium.’(64) Keting-li
zheng
living.room-in right.now

he-zhedrink-DUR

jiu
wine

ne!
PRT

‘Wine is being drunk in the living room!’
Note that these two sentences are slightly different from the agentive locative subject
construction that we saw above. In the previous examples the locative subject is a body partthat is directly involved in the action denoted by the verb, but in (63)-(64), the locative
subject is the location where the event is going on. But two things are the same: first, theverbs are highly agentive, and the second, the verbs take the durative/progressive aspect. For
these reasons, we regard the sentences in (63)-(64) as of the same kind as the agentive
locative subject construction.
How do we account for the agentive locative subject? Suppose a light verb is responsible
for the agentive locative subjects. Call it PROGRESS. This light verb has the following
property: it takes an AspP as complement, and it requires its AspP complement to be durativeor progressive through head-complement concordance. (For the category AspP, see Cheng
1991 and Shen 2004.)- 80 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)

(65)

vP
SubjLocv’

PROGRESS

AspP
AsP’
Asp

VP

-zhe
But a question still remains. Though we posit an independent light verb for the agentive
locative subject, we still need an explanation for the question: Why are there so manydifferent kinds of locative subject in MC? So far we have just been enumerating them andpostulated light verbs that introduce them. Is there a deeper explanation for the prevalence oflocative subjects in MC grammar? We believe there is. This has to do with the functional
category Locus.
6. Locative as the Locus of Event
Mei (2002a, 2002b) shows that in some Tibeto-Berman languages, locatives are used toexpress time. The following examples are from Nusu, a minority language spoken insouthwestern China (Mei 2002a: 46). The distal marker u implies that the event has occurred,
and the proximal marker ja implies that the event is in progress.
(66) Nga golaba thouIshoes put.ona
DISTAL(Distal; past)
REALIS‘I put on my shoes.’(67) Nga golab thojaIshoes put.on(Proximal; progressive)
PROXIMAL‘I am putting on my shoes.’
Based on examples like these, Mei (2002b) suggests that languages may be parameterized insuch a way that they may choose Tense or Location as the head of a clause. Mei (2002b)
subsumes these two as one and call it Locus. Locus can be time or location.6

6

In Mei’s (2002b) system, Locus has two sub-components, the temporal locus and the spatial locus,
each of which can be marked as strong or weak. In Tense language such as English the temporal locus
is strong and the spatial locus is weak; in what Mei (2002b) calls the weakly tense language – such as
Nusu – the spatial locus is strong but the temporal locus is weak. (Continued on next page.)- 81 -

Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

(68)

CP
C’
C

LocusP(Locus = Tense or Location)
Locus’Locus

vP

As a member of the Sino-Tibetan languages (of which the Tibeto-Berman languages are a
sub-family), MC may have this Locus Phrase as well. One interesting phenomenon in MC
indicates that location, indeed, plays a crucial role in the MC sentence structure. When an MC
speaker challenges a proposition expressed by some other person, s/he may expresses doubt
about the location of the proposition, even though the proposition may have nothing to dowith location at all. See the following examples:(69) A:

Zhangsan chi-le yi-ge
hanbao.
Zhangsan eat-PERF one-CL burger‘Zhangsan ate a burger.’

B:

Zhangsan naliZhangsan where

chi-le yi-ge
hanbao?
eat-PERF one-CL burger‘(Lit.) Where did Zhangsan eat a burger?’ =‘How could Zhangsan eat a burger? [He didn’t.]’(70) A:

Zhangsan hen
Zhangsan very

you-qian.
have-money‘Zhangsan is rich.’
B:

Zhangsan naliZhangsan where

hen
very

you-qian?
have-money‘(Lit.) Where is Zhangsan rich?’ =‘How can Zhangsan be rich? [He isn’t.]’

In this work we split the temporal locus and the spatial locus into separate parts, each of which
has its own projection. This is more in line with recent ideas on the higher functional categories (e.g.
Pollock 1989). So the structure in (68) is a reinterpretation of Mei’s (2002a, b) work.
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Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)(71) A:

Zhangsan zai tushuguan
Zhangsan at librarynian-shu.
read-book‘Zhangsan is studying at the library.’
B:

Zhangsan naliZhangsan where

zai tushuguan
at librarynian-shu?
read-book‘(Lit.) Where is Zhangsan studying at the library?’ =‘How can Zhangsan be studying at the library? [He isn’t.]’
Look at (69) first. Speaker B tries to challenge the truth of the proposition expressed by
Speaker A, and s/he does so by questioning the location – notice the locative wh-phrase nali
‘where.’ This wh-phrase nali ‘where’ is not really meant to denote the location where theevent occurs or the state exists. An individual-level predicate (‘be rich’) is generally
incompatible with location in semantics – it makes no sense to say that someone is rich at aparticular location. Yet in (70) nali ‘where’ occurs with this predicate. (71) shows that thesentence can have an independent locative expression that denotes the event location. Thus
nali ‘where’ in these sentences has nothing to do with location at all.
In fact, nali ‘where’ in this use cannot denote the event location. When used as alocation-denoting expression, it needs the preposition zai ‘at’. But in this use the presence of
zai leads to ungrammaticality. In (72) nali ‘where’ is location-denoting, and the prepositionzai ‘at’ occurs. Without the preposition the sentence is ungrammatical, as in (73). On theother hand, in the challenging/questioning use, the presence of zai ‘at’ causes
ungrammaticality, as in (74)-(75).
(72) Zhangsan
Zhangsanzai nali
at wheregongzuo?
work‘Where does Zhangsan work?’(73) *
Zhangsan naligongzuo?
Zhangsan where work‘(Intended) Where does Zhangsan work?’(74) *
Zhangsan zai nali
hen
you-qian?
Zhangsan at where very
have-money‘(Intended) How can Zhangsan be rich?’(75) *
Zhangsan zai naliZhangsan at where at

zai tushuguan nian-shu.
library
read-book‘(Intended) How can Zhangsan be studying at the library?’
We can incorporate this use of nali ‘where’ into our analysis, in the following way. Suppose- 83 -

Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

that Locus is phonetically empty as its unmarked form, but it can also have a marked form
nali ‘where,’ when the truth of the proposition or event is challenged or questioned.
Furthermore, suppose that Locus is where the event argument is. (Kratzer (1995) suggest thatthe event argument is in Tense. If Locus is to replace Tense, then it is natural that the event
argument is in Locus.) Thus questioning Locus is questioning the event. This is the origin of
the challenging/questioning force of nali ‘where.’Suppose that instead of TP, MC has a locational LocusP, as suggested above. The
subject argument of a sentence is base-generated inside vP, and raises up to Spec of LocusP.
Further suppose that Locus checks the element that moves into its Spec position to see if it isa locative. This then forces the subject argument of the sentence to be locative in nature.
(76)

CP
C’
C

LocusP
Subj

Locus’Locus

vP∅ / nali tSUBJv’v

Locative
Checking

VP

Notice that all the different kinds of locative subject can appear with nali ‘where.’(77) Jie-shangstreet-on

nali
where

zhan-zhestand-DUR

yi-ge
jingcha?
one-CL policeman‘How is there a policeman standing on the street? [There is none.]’(78) Zhe-zuo
hu-li
nali
zhaodao-guo
yi-ge
da baozang?
this-CL lake-in where find-EXP
one-CL big treasure‘How could there be found a big treasure in this lake? [It’s not true.]’(79) Chunzi-li
village-in

nali
where

chen-lesink-PERF

liang-sao
two-CLchuan?
boat‘How could it be the case that two boats sank from our village? [It’s not true.]’- 84 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)(80) Zhangsan-deshou-li nali
wo-zheyi-bashouqiang?
Zhangsan’s hand-in where hold-DUR
one-CL pistol‘How could Zhangsan holds a pistol in his hand? [Not at all.]’
There is a potential problem with this analysis, however. The nali ‘where’ sentence cantake a temporal adverbial, but the temporal adverbial must precede nali ‘where.’ See thefollowing examples for demonstration.
(81) Zhangsan
Zhangsanzuotianyesterday

zai tushuguan
at librarynian-shu.
read-book‘Zhangsan studied at the library yesterday.’(82) Zhangsan
Zhangsanzuotianyesterday

nali
where

zai tushuguan
at librarynian-shu.
read-book‘How could Zhangsan studied at the library yesterday? [He didn’t.]’(83) *
Zhangsan nali
zuotianZhangsan where yesterdayatzai tushuguan nian-shu.
library
read-book‘(Intended) How could Zhangsan studied at the library yesterday?’Two questions need to be considered. First, how can a location head license a temporaladverbial? They don’t seem to be related. Second, if LocusP is in such a high position as TP
in English, there is no reason to expect that the temporal adverbial would have to precede nali
‘where.’ Why can’t the temporal adverbial be preceded by nali ‘where’?
A solution to the two questions above can be this. Suppose that Locus is not really toreplace Tense. Just like IP in English is split up into Tense, Neg, etc., IP in MC can be split
into Tense and Locus, the former dominating the latter.

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Nanzan Linguistics 4: Research Results and Activities 2006 ~ 2008

(84)

CP
C’
C

TP
Subj

T’
T

LocusP
t’SUBJ

Locus’
Locus

vP
tSUBJ

The subject argument of the sentence raises to Spec of TP from Spec of vP passing throughSpec of LocusP. TP licenses the temporal adverbial, and this is why the temporal adverbial
always precedes nali ‘where.’ LocusP amounts to a filter, which permits a locative subject togo through only. On the way to TP Spec, the subject argument has to move into the Spec of
Locus first, where the subject argument is checked to see if it is a locative expression. Thus
the subject has to be locative in nature.
If this analysis is correct, the real source of the locative subjects, as well as the locative
prominancy of MC, is the function of the head Locus. It doesn’t generate locative subjects byitself; it just filters out non-locative subjects. It doesn’t replace TP. MC has the functional
category Tense for independent reason (Sybesma 2007).
7. Conclusion
In this paper we recount the locative subjects in MC, and suggests that it is the functionof the category Locus that is responsible for the locative prominancy of this language. There
are many interesting consequences if our proposal is correct. The most important one is: if
Locus is a permanent element in the sentence structure of MC, then what looks like a nonlocative subject in MC is in fact a locative subject. For example, the agent subject in thefollowing sentence has to be a locative due to the checking effect of Locus:(85) Zhangsan
Zhangsanchi-le yi-ge
hanbao.
eat-PERF one-CL burger‘Zhangsan ate a burger.’
Many questions, of course, need to be clarified before this view can be considered correct.

- 86 -

Locative Subject in Mandarin Chinese (J. Lin)One of them is that the subject Zhangsan doesn’t really look like a locative. But this may not
be as far-fetched as one would think. It is known that some languages use locative
constructions to represent possession (see Clark 1978). MC may very well be one of thoselanguages. The possessive construction in MC makes use of the verb you ‘have’, as in (86).
However, this same verb you ‘have’ is used as a locative-existential verb in (87).
(86)

Zhangsan you
Zhangsan havehenduo qian.
much money‘Zhangsan has much money,’(87)

Zhuo-shang
Table-onyou
have

henduo qian.
much money‘There is much money on the table,’
Suppose that (86) and (87) are of the same construction, and that the verb you ‘have’ here isuniformly a locative-existential verb. Then Zhangsan in (86) is on a par with the locative
zhuo-shang ‘on the table’ – in other words, Zhangsan is a locative. Thus, it is not unlikely thatthe subject Zhangsan in (85) is in fact a locative, even though it doesn’t look like one. This isjust one of the many questions that need to be solved along this line of thinking. We will
leave those questions to future research.

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(Received: February, 2008)- 88 -